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COS Design: Naroon Road Project

This garden by COS Design has a wholesale goodness about it. Walking into the space, you feel instantly welcomed by the combination and warmth of the material palette, and the verdant, fussless planting. The timber, the recycled red bricks, the custom concrete, that tree…! Looking deeper, you then appreciate the lines, the detail and all of the elements that have been incorporated into this functional family garden.

It’s a garden with a soul and it’s a garden we will always feel strongly connected to.

The Naroon Road project encapsulates the essence of the famous lane way cafe culture of Melbourne. This was at the core of the brief presented by the clients, Endre and Emma.

They wanted their back yard to be a contemporary setting and a place of casual, yet sophisticated entertaining, weekend family time and a place for the children to wind down and chill out with their friends. Steve Taylor from COS Design can recall Emma asking for…

…an inner city cafe style, urban, industrial, warehouse, sharp (yet rustic), funky space with a killer pool, pizza oven, BBQ, large deck and a fire pit area and the large claret ash must be protected at all costs!

And much to the credit of COS Design, all of these elements have been incorporated seamlessly!

The material palette includes bluestone which has been used in and around the above ground pool, recycled red bricks were selected to match the Californian bungalow home’s facade, black steel arbors with recycled timber infill’s frame the pool from the kitchen vista, chunky polished concrete slabs enhance the industrial feel of the space with the warmth of the yellow stringy bark timber deck (stained with a charcoal tint) create a seamless flow from the rear extension while protecting the tree roots from compaction through foot traffic.

The swimming pool, immaculately built by Serenity Pools, sits out of the ground, as it could not be dug in due to the large basalt floaters that lay 300mm below the surface.

This restriction although a challenge, allowed for a stunning piece of garden architecture that can be seen from every angle and minimised the need for pool fencing. The water colour is timeless and sophisticated, while the glass mosaic wet edge and the spa adds another textural dimension to the space.

The garden was built fastidiously by Signature Landscapes achieving the highest level of detail. Although simple and clean the garden’s hard structures were extremely technical and executed impeccably.